Vol. 539 No. 2
147 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if her attention has been drawn to a proposal to construct a hotel on King's Island, Limerick, which will breach the line of the walls of the city; the regulations in place regarding such an eventuality; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19230/01]
Development applications that impact on archaeological sites and monuments are referred by the relevant local authority to my Department for comment and recommendation. The proposed development referred to by the Deputy has been forwarded to Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department and it was recommended by Dúchas that fundamental re-design and substantial archaeological investigation be carried out. Further information was requested by Limerick Corporation but the response received did not deal adequately with the archaeological issues raised. However, the developer has since employed a consultant archaeologist to assess the development impacts and my Department is awaiting this report for appraisal. I am, therefore, not in a position to comment on the archaeological implications until my officials have assessed this report.
